Clifden in the rain.
Renvyle House Hotel from across the bay.
The world’s end: facing west on Omey Island.
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Ireland With Kids
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Appetizers: Goat Cheese and Seafood Chowder.
Main Courses: Irish Lamb and Grilled Turbot
Dessert: Irish Cheese Plate and Raspberry Pie
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I was blown in the door of the Renvyle House Hotel by gale force winds and almost immediately tripped over two preschoolers playing tag in the lobby. I had to step quickly out of the way and only took a brief look at the surroundings before checking in. I’d been reading about the history of Renvyle House (A Sea-Grey House) prior to our visit so I was full of facts about the property but I’d been struggling to picture the buildings in my head. There are many large manor houses and castles in Ireland, but I didn’t expect that. I also knew it wouldn’t be a modern hotel. The actual property is modest in proportion but warm and inviting and in a truly beautiful location.
Arriving during a holiday weekend when the weather was miserable was a perfect time to see how and why this hotel is rated as one of the most family-friendly places to stay in Ireland. On the main floor, there is a large, staffed indoor play-space for children (12 and younger) with toys, games, arts and crafts – and a TV in the corner. Parents can opt for children to eat evening meals in this area instead of in the restaurant – kid-free dinner, how cool is that? There’s also a lounge area along one side of the building and a cosy, comfortable bar. For us weary travelers, Renvyle was a perfect place in which to find a corner to relax and unwind. My favorite part about the hotel was the way all the staff seemed to be completely unfazed by the many kids playing around them – in fact, more than glad to see them running around and having fun.
Various family members had told me about a recent trend in Irish hotels where larger rooms, usually suites intended for families, are built onto the hotel property giving guests with children the best of both worlds: the spaciousness of a two-room apartment with access to hotel facilities. Our room at the Renvyle House was the first time I’d experienced staying at this kind of development and I whole-heartedly approve. There are four such apartments at the back of the hotel, nicely integrated into the look and feel of the original hotel building. With two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a comfortable sitting room, our suite was just the right size for us to spread out and relax after our travels. My one, minor suggestion to the management to make these suites perfect would be to furnish each with a fridge and microwave – if only to store leftovers from the sumptuous and generous meals provided in the hotel restaurant.
The next morning jet-lag had my husband and I awake with the birds. Our boys were still sleeping soundly – the previous day’s walk in the wind in Clifden must have had the desired effect of helping them knock their jet-lag on the head. I checked online and found that sunrise would be within the next ten minutes. Deciding that it would be fun walk on the beach at sunrise we shook CAM awake, told him we were going for a short walk, and headed out. It was raining, a drizzle at first but developing into a full downpour as daylight sneaked up on us over the next half hour. We went from struggling to see the ground ahead to admiring the view of Inisbofin in the distance but it took a lot longer than ten minutes – there’s obviously a Connemara sunrise adjustment interval to confuse unsuspecting visitors.
This being day three of our trip, operation time-zone-adjustment was still in effect for all of us. In other words, we needed plenty of active time outside today – rain or no rain. Over breakfast we asked our waiter about hikes in the area. He directed us to Connemara National Park in Letterfrack and as I described in an earlier post, it was a great recommendation. When we returned to the hotel in the evening, I discovered that the hotel offers many activities for guests – classes in yoga and sea angling, for example. We perused those and the information on local attractions. I came up with a plan which I thought would work well for my boys and their grandparents (who would be with us the following day) but I didn’t count on my aunt, who lives in the area. As a local, she had very definite ideas about where to take us to get a truly “off the beaten path” experience. You’ll have to check back to discover the places to which she introduced us 
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In this final post in this series on visiting Ireland I’ll be describing the places we plan to visit during our upcoming trip. We haven’t been to Ireland since 2005 (I can’t complain, we’ve met up with our extended family in Portugal, Cyprus and Italy in the intervening period) so we’re all excited at the chance to re-aquaint ourselves with the Emerald Isle. We have two weddings to go to while we’re there so our trip itinerary looks something like: 1.Spend a few days being tourists; 2.Meet family and attend wedding; 3.Spend a few more days being tourists; 4.Meet family and attend wedding; 5.Return to Seattle.
For our first few touristy days, we’re going to head west. We’ll be staying at Renvyle House Hotel, waaaay out in Connemara – so far off the beaten track that one of it’s earlier owners, Oliver St.John Gogarty, once described it as “the world’s end”. The scenery in this region is barren and windswept and utterly gorgeous. We plan to hike in Connemara National Park, spend a day exploring Clifden and take a day trip to the Aran Islands. We’ll round out this section of our trip with a night or two in Galway city. Oysters and Guinness at Moran’s Oyster Cottage is definitely on the cards and sure we may stop at Oranmore just for the hell of letting our boys belt out The Galway Shawl as we drive through – they already know all the words anyway.
We’re still deliberating on what to do during our second touristy jaunt. Here’s a sampling of the ideas we’re playing with – you’ll have to check back in late April to find out what we actually did:
Sligo. My Mom’s family is from Sligo and my great-great-grandfather was mayor of the city in 1882 and 1884 during which time he donated the city’s mayoral chain. (He was also MP for North Sligo in 1891 as a member of the anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation. Obviously he wasn’t OK with Parnell’s meanderings with Kitty O’Shea. Tut tut.) Yet my children have never actually been here. I can see them enjoying beach walks at Rosses Point or Strandhill or the hike up to (fairy) Queen Maeve’s grave at Knocknarea. A visit to Yeats’s grave at Drumcliff would be required as well as some walks around Lough Gill. Although, I can see my boys revolting if we make them go for a walk to see an island (Innisfree) and a rock (Dooney) that somebody wrote a poem about nearly hundred years ago – even if Yeats did win the Nobel Prize for his literary skill.
Derry (or LondonDerry). Call me crazy. I think getting a video of my kids doing a rendition of Danny Boy on the Derry city walls would be one for the family video archive. If you could, you’d be tempted too, right? (If we do this, I’m 100% sure it’ll sound more like the Muppets rendition below than Daniel O’Donnell).
Whiskey and Beer. Since the WanderDad has been so diligent in teaching our boys Irish ballads, they can also do a mean version of The Irish Rover (we’re such responsible parents). So he thinks it would be perfectly appropriate for us to visit the Guinness, Smithwicks and Murphy’s breweries (in Dublin, Kilkenny and Cork respectively) and the Bushmills and Midleton distilleries (in Antrim and Cork). Apart from the fact that to do so we’d have to drive from one end of the country to the other and back, I’m pretty sure my kids would be all done with this theme after the first stop.
If you have any opinions on any of the above – or any other ideas for what we should do during our week between weddings, leave a comment.
Related Posts
Road Trip Ireland Part I – The South Coast
Road Trip Ireland Part II – Dublin To Belfast
An overview of visiting Ireland with kids .
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Photo Credit: revnancy, theq47, michaelclarke
